Maduro blames US sanctions for all the misery and poverty in Venezuela.

It's true that US sanctions have probably exacerbated problems in that country, but the root of their problems is socialism.

The HUGE problem with socialism is that doesn't give any incentive to excel at anything. People lose the desire to acquire wealth, and production goes down. As production decreases, the government loses the ability to provide the people basic needs. People starve, or they resort to crime (steal food), or they leave.

Protein in the "Maduro diet" consists mainly of rats, mice, large bugs and pets.

In the final stages of socialism, the government hyper-inflates the currency to make people feel richer.

"Look, I'm a billionaire!"

Sad.

“The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” - Margaret Thatcher

Venezuelan managers and employees of businesses have been arrested in the past few weeks, accused by authorities of “speculation” because they have hiked their prices.

“Maduro raised the minimum salary, which was necessary, but announced a series of punitive measures that create no incentive for investment and no trust, and are set to decrease production.” Ricardo Cusanno, Fedecamaras VP

Venezuelan managers and employees of businesses have been arrested in the past few weeks, accused by authorities of “speculation” because they have hiked their prices.

“Maduro raised the minimum salary, which was necessary, but announced a series of punitive measures that create no incentive for investment and no trust, and are set to decrease production.” Ricardo Cusanno, Fedecamaras VP